S&P Dow Jones Indices And MSCI Announce Select List Of Companies Changing Due To Revisions To The GICS® Structure In 2018

NEW YORK, Jan. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices, a leading provider of financial market indices, and MSCI Inc., a leading provider of research-based indexes and analytics, announced today a select list of companies expected to be impacted as a result of the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®) structure revisions in September 2018 in GICS Direct. The full list of companies announced today can be found at www.spdji.com or www.msci.com.  Note that the new company classifications are subject to change before implementation due to ongoing reviews, including for corporate events.

S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI have decided to provide the full list of all securities affected by these changes to GICS Direct clients on July 2, 2018, rather than August 1, 2018 as previously announced. Updates to the list will be provided on August 1, 2018 and September 3, 2018.

In November 2017, S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI announced changes to the GICS structure to be implemented after the close of business (ET) on Friday, September 28, 2018 in GICS Direct.

Summary of key changes:

Communication Services Sector
The Telecommunication Services Sector will be broadened and renamed Communication Services to include companies that facilitate communication and offer related content and information through various media.

The renamed Sector will include the existing telecommunication companies as well as companies selected from the Consumer Discretionary Sector currently classified under the Media Industry Group, such as Comcast Corp and Naspers Ltd. It will also include select companies from the Internet & Direct Marketing Retail Sub-Industry such as Netflix Inc. and TripAdvisor Inc. along with certain companies currently classified in the Information Technology Sector, including Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc.

Internet & Direct Marketing Retail Sub-Industry under the Consumer Discretionary Sector
The Internet & Direct Marketing Retail Sub-Industry will be updated to include all online marketplaces for consumer products and services. The Sub-Industry will include e-commerce companies regardless of whether they hold inventory, and include Alibaba Group and eBay Inc.

Information Technology Sector
Companies currently classified in the Internet Software & Services Sub-Industry such as data centers, cloud networking, storage infrastructure, and web hosting services will be moved to a new Sub-Industry called Internet Services & Infrastructure under the IT Services Industry. This Sub-Industry will include companies such as Verisign Inc. and Shopify Inc.

In addition, cloud-based software companies currently classified as Internet Software & Services such as Logmein Inc. and Nutanix Inc. will be reclassified as Application Software.

As a result, the existing Internet Software & Services Industry and Sub-Industry will be discontinued.

For more details regarding the upcoming structure changes, please visit www.spdji.com or www.msci.com.

The new GICS structure will consist of 11 Sectors, 24 Industry Groups, 69 Industries and 158 Sub-Industries.

ABOUT S&P DOW JONES INDICES

S&P Dow Jones Indices is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world. Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has become home to over 1,000,000 indices across the spectrum of asset classes that have helped define the way investors measure and trade the markets.

S&P Dow Jones Indices is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies, and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit www.spdji.com.

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About MSCI
For more than 40 years, MSCI's research-based indexes and analytics have helped the world's leading investors build and manage better portfolios. Clients rely on our offerings for deeper insights into the drivers of performance and risk in their portfolios, broad asset class coverage and innovative research.

Our line of products and services includes indexes, analytical models, data, real estate benchmarks and ESG research.

MSCI serves 99 of the top 100 largest asset managers, according to the most recent P&I ranking.

For more information, visit us at www.msci.com.

Media Inquiries

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